Highlighting the obtuse, the slanted and sometimes just plain ignorant writings found in The Gray Lady

Taiwan

Yes. Donald Trump talked with the democratically elected president of Taiwan.

Why shouldn’t he. Why the hell should the most powerful nation in the world let Communist China tell it who it can and cannot talk to? THAT is the question.

The national media – including The New York Times – is equating Trump’s conversation with Taiwan’s president as if it were an act of war with China. It’s not.

It’s called Freedom of Speech.

Why can’t the US president speak with Taiwan’s president? Oh. It’s that Jimmy Carter agreement way back when that essentially…well, what DID we gain from letting Communist China become a massive pain in the arse to the world as a whole? What DID we gain by recognizing Communist China and throwing small, independent, democratic Taiwan under the bus?

Well, we threw away our principles, for one thing.

Why would we abandon Taiwan, a country that has come to more closely resemble the democratic, free-thinking values of the United States? Why would we instead allow Communist China free access to all our markets so that it could take unfair trade advantage and fundamentally alter the American economy so that it will NEVER be the same? So that China’s unfair trade advantage has allowed it not only to steal jobs from Americans but to amass trillions of dollars that it has used and is currently using to purchase American corporations and manufacturing sites and tracts of real estate so that America’s resources have essentially been transferred wholesale across the Pacific to Chinese control?

Why does everyone screaming in the press seem to think that Communist China can dictate who the American president can talk to on the telephone?

Oh. It’s all the same people who were so blindered for years with outdated values that they thought putting Hillary Clinton up for president was going to be a great move forward for this country.

Uh, huh.

Once you let a bully start dictating what you can do, that bully controls you.

It’s time to stop the mindset that Communist China sets policy for the world. It’s time that the United States starts setting an example by showing leadership.

[This is in no way an endorsement for Donald Trump. It is an endorsement for a change in foreign policy.]

For years The New York Times has kneeled down before the powers of Communist Mainland China and refused to acknowledge in print that the free island nation Taiwan, the Republic of China, is a sovereign nation independent from the corrupt, criminal communist mainland China.

That, apparently, has changed.

In an opinion piece published in The Times on Saturday, 26 November 2016, the editorial writers clearly stated:

“Taiwan should become another nation to recognize that love is love, regardless of sexual orientation.”

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The definition of nation clearly states that it is “independent” and a “sovereign state.”

Never before has The New York Times ever admitted that Taiwan was anything other than a renegade province of the communist mainland China. This is the Party line that Mainland China has forced upon news corporations and businesses and even the United Nations in its attempts to isolate the democratic nation of Taiwan.

Communist China has used its police powers and its power over who is allowed to do business in the country to keep countries and corporations bowing down to them for decades and most countries and corporations have willingly taken the boot of the communists and shined it clean for the sake of their own profits.

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We congratulate The New York Times for their brave, courageous stance, knowing they alone are standing against a tidal wave of forced economic censorship and the military brutality that Communist China threatens Taiwan with every day.

(Then again, we’re probably pretty sure it’s the really inexperienced punk writers that The Times has recently hired that made this massive error. And NYT’s publisher A.O. Sulzberger, Jr. will soon be called onto the carpet and forced to kowtow to the Communist bullies from the mainland so he will be able to keep doing business over there.)

While the crazy -Il dictators of North Korea have been developing nuclear arms over the years and the world has been twisting its ears over how to stop them, why was their next door neighbor – South Korea – handing over bags full of brand new US $100 bills adding up to hundreds of millions since 2004? Essentially giving the Hermit Kingdom the cash necessary to wreak havoc on not only South Korea but the world?

Because it was great for South Korean businesses, that’s why.

North Korean slave laborers don’t complain.

In fact, they didn’t even get paid. The crisp $US money went straight to the crazy North Korean rulers and the military. The poor starving workers were given slips of paper to exchange for bits of food or goods at roughly $2 an hour.

To understand Korean business practices you’ll have to do some studying on your own. Start with “chaebols,” the uniquely Korean family business-controlled multinationals that you buy your cars from, your electronics, etc.

If you thought things were skewed in the US, you’ve never studied business practices in South Korea.

Remember that South Korean ferry that sank 2 years ago in 2014? Tragically killing about 300 Korean students on holiday? The fault of that sinking can be directly linked to corrupt chaebol business practices.

Examples of chaebol corruption go right down to the ludicrous. The chaebol daughter of the Korean airlines executive who ordered her flight back to the terminal to kick a flight attendant off the plane because she was offended when she wasn’t offered, was it a piece a candy? The return to the terminal violated international flight regulations. There was a cover-up involving the pilots, who lied to cover-up the daughter’s involvement. She was found out because of passengers. She eventually lost her job, but kept a salary. That’s the power of corrupt family chaebols in Korea.

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South Korea has always been an ally of the United States. The South Korean people are wonderful, curious, industrious and great citizens of this Green Planet. But like all the numerous examples of the US’s blundering in world affairs that ended disastrously, South Korea’s Kaesong experiment only added fuel to the nuclear fission/fusion taking place across its border.

The story is not a new one: Lumber Liquidators bought laminated flooring from Chinese manufacturers that had lots – lots – of formaldehyde in it. And LL liquidated it to lots of homeowners who are now living inside caskets.

That’s the way it is.

China doesn’t care about anything. Not about the environment. Not about safety. Not about health. Least of all about the safety of its own Chinese citizens.

And now the Chinese have sold their blatant disregard for human life to the American Business Industry along with its products.

What? You haven’t heard about the Chinese workers striking at factories cranking out Apple iPhones because they were getting sick from polishing screens? Too busy playing on your smartphone?

Didn’t hear about the tainted Chinese baby formula scandal? Now Chinese scramble to buy baby formula from overseas markets. Meanwhile, millions of Americans are buying billions of dollars of Chinese food products found in Walmart stores. What, you don’t read the labels? “Made in China?” They’re all over your Walmart food aisles.

If you think Wall Street is a mess, you haven’t been following the Chinese Communist’s idea of a stock exchange.

Stock prices going down? Close down the market! Yes, they do that in a “controlled” economy like China.

You’re a foreigner? You can’t own stock in a Chinese company! Yes, they can do that, too.

You want the stock market to go up? Print money and give it to market-makers to buy stocks. Yes, you can do that…but if you’ve been paying attention to China, that hasn’t been working lately. See, everyone buying Chinese stocks has been doing so with borrowed money. Which means, well, picture a house of cards…

There’s much more behind the Chinese purchase after first blush, and it’s unlikely the US will allow the sale to go through. The greatest reason is that this particular Chinese corporation has the stench of Communist government backing and influence, meaning once they’ve got control of an American financial exchange they have a backdoor into the US financial infrastructure. The Chinese government is already blatantly hacking into every US institution they can, why give them the Chicago Stock Exchange? It’s like putting a Chinese Destroyer in Lake Michigan.

What we find very disturbing about the 45 Congressmen who signed the petition calling for a Treasury Department review of the Chinese deal for the Chicago Exchange?

Only 1 Democrat signed on to the petition. The other 44 were Republicans.

What happened to the Democrats? Are they kissing up to Chinese money? Or did the Repubs simply forget to ask them if they wanted to sign on to a good thing?

We’d like to know. It’s an important issue. And it’s no time to play Party Politics when national security is at stake.

(Yes, this is laughingly written in homage to the preponderance of “5 Takeaways” click-bait pieces all over the web.)

Lesson 1: Cam Newton/Peyton Manning

Just because someone is physically and mentally suited to a particular sport doesn’t grant them special powers to be Leaders of Men off the field.

Lesson 2: Donald Trump

Just because someone has managed to amass a fortune bullying their way through the business world doesn’t endow them with the finesse needed to lead the world’s biggest political entity.

Lesson 3: A.O. Scott/Manola Darghis

The best film reviewers act as translators, directly translating to readers all aspects of a film. The worst reviewers (Scott, Darghis) act as “feelers,” filtering films through their particular prejudices and skewing the process. (Yes, it’s tough. But look back decades for the classic film critics for guidance.)

Lesson 4: A Nation Divided Is A Nation In Doubt

No one denies the US is becoming more and more divided. We believe the media isn’t helping. In fact, we believe the media is furthering the divide. There is no spectrum of news outlets in the US. Essentially it is Fox News on the Right and CNN/MSNBC on the Left. There is no Middle Ground. To use a Buddhist term, no Middle Path.

We believe the US needs to come together on the Middle Path. How that will happen, well, we have some ideas, but, this piece is only click-bait so they’ll have to come at a later time.

So, until then…

(Oh, and we don’t have a Lesson 5. Remember, we’re being subversive. And we don’t like that click-bait format.)